Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/391

] working it in repoussé. The two last processes were probably introduced after the first was known, although, when the first art had once been learnt, the others would quickly follow.

Dr. Robinson laid before the Royal Irish Academy, in 1848, an interesting discovery of bronze articles in Dowris bog, near Parsonstown, King's County, Ireland. They consisted of thirteen bronze trumpets, some cast, and others with riveted seams, thirty-one celts, twenty-nine spear-heads, three gouges, thirty-one bells, several bronze vessels of large size, of which one in the possession of Lord Rosse is composed of two pieces of bronze neatly riveted together. Some of the objects were imperfectly cast, others had been injured and broken up. There were also small jets of metal which had overflowed from the moulds, and pieces of sandstone used for polishing, all of which showed that the accumulation of implements and weapons formed the stock in trade of a bronze-founder, similar to those met with in England, and still more abundantly in France. The bells are small, hollow, and pear-shaped, with rings at the top for suspension, and a loose piece of metal inside. In general form they resemble the bells attached to horses, and were probably intended for that purpose. This collection of articles belongs to the late Bronze age, and it proves that bronze-smiths carried on their craft in Ireland as well as England. Stone moulds found in Ireland have been described by Sir W. Wilde.